Correspondent's diary | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/series/correspondent-diary
Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017Tue, 26 Sep 2017 21:40:47 GMT2017-09-26T21:40:47Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Heavy petting at France's human hamster hotelhttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/nov/18/human-hamster-hotel-france
A new gîte in Nantes offers guests the chance to live as a rodent for the night - complete with fur costumes and a romantic hamster wheel for two<p>Were Franz Kafka alive today - and were he to have developed an uncharacteristic interest in European city breaks - it would be interesting to know what he made of the latest addition to France's panoply of weekend getaway options.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/nov/18/human-hamster-hotel-france">Continue reading...</a>France holidaysHotelsFranceTravelEuropeWed, 18 Nov 2009 10:50:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/nov/18/human-hamster-hotel-franceLizzy Davies2009-11-18T10:50:32ZRace to get World Cup fans movinghttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/oct/01/johannesburg-worldcup2010-transport
Johannesburg, like Los Angeles, is a city where car ownership is king, but new bus and train routes will offer World Cup visitors more choice – in theory at least, writes David Smith<p>After a week in Johannesburg, you'll never bad-mouth London taxi drivers again. In my experience the cab drivers here, while perfectly polite, chatty and safe, don't have the faintest idea where they're going.</p><p>Not long after moving to the city, I tried to take a ride to a restaurant called Wombles. We headed south to Parktown, when in fact we should have gone north to the very different Parktown North. We got to my target destination in the end, but if you're using taxis within Johannesburg, remember to leave a spare hour.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/oct/01/johannesburg-worldcup2010-transport">Continue reading...</a>Johannesburg holidaysWorld Cup 2010TravelWorld CupThu, 01 Oct 2009 14:33:52 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/oct/01/johannesburg-worldcup2010-transportPhotograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersWork in progress ... building work at Johannesburg's Soccer City is not all that is not finished ahead of next year's World Cup. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersPhotograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersWork in progress ... building work at Johannesburg's Soccer City is not all that is not finished ahead of next year's World Cup. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersDavid Smith2009-10-01T14:33:52ZTravel writing - truth or fiction?https://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/sep/24/travel-writing-truth-or-lies
If 'the lie is intrinsic to travel books' what is their future under the inscrutable fact checker of the web, asks John Hooper, in the first of a new series from our foreign correspondents<p>When John Cartwright wrote The Preacher's Travels, an account of his wanderings in the Middle East, he described it as a "true Journall" and earnestly assured his readers that he would be giving them only "what mine eyes have seen".</p><p>As early as the start of the 17th century, then, people were becoming sceptical about travel writers. And with good reason. Academics now doubt that Cartwright, for example, was even a preacher.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/sep/24/travel-writing-truth-or-lies">Continue reading...</a>TravelTravel writingThu, 24 Sep 2009 10:07:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/sep/24/travel-writing-truth-or-liesPhotograph: Keren Su/CorbisLies of the land ... Marco Polo omitted any mention of the Great Wall and it's now widely accepted that he never set foot in China. Photograph: Keren Su/CorbisPhotograph: Keren Su/CorbisLies of the land ... Marco Polo omitted any mention of the Great Wall and it's now widely accepted that he never set foot in China. Photograph: Keren Su/CorbisJohn Hooper2009-09-24T10:07:30ZGay times at Munich's Oktoberfesthttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/sep/22/oktoberfest-gay-munich
Munich's annual beer festival got underway to the collective clinking of tankards on Saturday. But did you know that gay Bierfest started on Sunday?<p>A mainstay of the German entertainment calendar <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/travel/gallery/2009/sep/20/oktoberfest-festivals-munich">kicked off</a> with its usual aplomb this weekend. The price of the beer at Munich's <a href="http://www.german-way.com/germany-oktoberfest.html">Oktoberfest</a> might have gone up (from €8.30 (£7.50) a litre to €8.60), but otherwise everything is looking rosy at the Wiesn (meadow), as the locals refer to the world's biggest beer bonanza, which attracts around six million visitors a year.</p><p>There have been a few rows in advance of this, the 199th year of the Bierfest, however. The makers of traditional dress have been kicking off about the infiltration of cheap, Chinese imports of lederhosen, which they say are ruining their trade. And traditionalists are campaigning to clamp down on the rise in corporate sponsorship, which sees Munich companies reserving tables en masse and filling them with stiff-suited executives – they say it's putting a dampener on the party atmosphere.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/sep/22/oktoberfest-gay-munich">Continue reading...</a>Munich holidaysFood and drinkGay and lesbian travelGermany holidaysEurope holidaysCultural tripsTravelTue, 22 Sep 2009 16:06:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/blog/2009/sep/22/oktoberfest-gay-munichPhotograph: Peter Kneffel/AFPGay Days at the Oktoberfest ... a couple dressed in traditional Lederhosen kiss. Photograph: Peter Kneffel/AFPPhotograph: Peter Kneffel/AFPGay Days at the Oktoberfest ... a couple dressed in traditional Lederhosen kiss. Photograph: Peter Kneffel/AFPKate Connolly2009-09-22T16:06:00Z